Peppermints and Gingerbread
by dontmissthis
Summary: Maura and Jane build a gingerbread house together, simple as that.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**A/N: I swear this is the last oneshot I write before updating everything else-I'm just in a very Christmassy mood!**

…

Jane drops the box on the counter before walking behind Maura at the sink—wrapping her arms around a slim waist and kissing right below Maura's ear, smiling at the light laugh it elicits. "I brought something for you."

With a smile on her face, Maura's eyebrows raise as she finishes washing her hands. "And what would that be?"

"Well, why don't you go see for yourself," Jane whispers directly in Maura's ear as she slowly starts to sway them back and forth.

After drying her hands, Maura tilts her face to kiss Jane once more before shrugging out of the embrace and walking to the opposite counter. As soon as her eyes land on the multicolored box, a wide smile forms on her face and she claps her hands in pure, unadulterated excitement.

"Oh, Jane," she says before turning back to face Jane, mega-watt smile still in place. "How did you know?"

"Most people don't stare at them for ten minutes unless they want to do one," Jane says, bashfully grinning. "I just wasn't going to buy the nasty one from Whole Foods with organic icing and veggie-flavored gumdrops. You deserve the _real_ experience."

Tears instantly spring to Maura's eyes. She had never let anyone know that she wanted to participate in something so…_juvenile_, but here was Jane making sure her every want—even the ones she had never expressed—would always be fulfilled. Something no one had ever done for her before.

Tugging on Jane's hand, she pulls them flush together and smiles up at Jane as her hands try to smooth the wrinkles from Jane's shirt. "You are perfect, Jane Rizzoli."

"Maura," a light blush instantly springs to Jane's face and she scrunches her nose. "No I'm not."

"You are to me."

Jane takes in Maura's bright eyes and honest, affectionate expression; the small, seemingly ever-present grin on Maura's lips, the fingers slightly gripping her hips to hold them close. She will never understand how she got so incredibly lucky to have gotten Maura Isles in her life. Leaning down, she kisses the tip of Maura's nose.

"I love you," she says, before turning and fumbling with one end of the box. "But we should get started before Ma gets here. We'll never get to finish then."

"Angela cannot help the love she has for conversing," Maura says without really thinking as she watches Jane with rapt attention while the box is opened and the pre-cut pieces are laid out on the counter.

It's a smaller kit—the larger, more intricate ones had already been sold out at the market by Jane's apartment with it being so close to Christmas—with packets of assorted candies, white icing, and two tiny gingerbread men.

Maura cuts the edge of the icing bag with scissors—earning her some light-hearted jest from Jane about being so nitpicky—and perfunctorily lines every edge that Jane points to with it, biting her lip in concentration. It's not as easy as she had thought, but her hands are trained not to shake after years and years of delicate work and the lines come out almost perfectly.

Grinning, Jane proudly raises and eyebrow and watches as Maura checks the illustration on the box to see if she's putting the correct pieces in the correct grooves so it stands on its own. The ones Jane and her brothers had made in their youth had always been crooked with too much icing and too little candy from eating it as they went along. But this one…this one stands perfectly straight, not leaning to one side or the other after it sets in place.

"You're doing good, Maur," Jane says as she watches Maura line the pieces for the roof. "We're going to have the best one in the neighborhood."

Maura looks up with bright, excited eyes. "You really think so?"

"Of course," Jane confirms with a smile, before frowning as part of the roof starts sliding down. "But you need to put more icing on that."

"No, it just needs to be—"

"Maura, I've done this how many times? It just needs some more…" She trails off as she watches Maura tilt the piece less than two centimeters and prepares to roll her eyes, before stopping short when she sees the roof hold firmly in place on its own.

Her brow furrows and Maura turns to look at her with a very proud, _very_ smug expression. "Science will beat a sugary concoction any day."

Jane scoffs. "And how, exactly, was_ that_ science?"

"Would you really like me to answer that?" She arches one eyebrow and watches Jane pause and then snap her mouth shut, black curls bouncing as Jane shakes her head. "I didn't think so."

A wide smile finally forms on Jane's face and she reaches out, swiping through the white frosting until the tip of her finger is coated in it. "But have you ever tasted the _sugary concoction_?"

"Of course I've tried it before, Jane. Just never any that was of such…poor quality," Maura states, focused on holding the other side of the roof down until it dries.

Jane laughs as she reaches out and runs her finger down the middle of both of Maura's soft, parted lips. Surprised, Maura's tongue involuntarily darts out and licks it off—instantly scrunching her nose as she realizes what Jane has done.

"Now you have," Jane teases.

Maura frowns, her bottom lip pushing out slightly in a pout.

And it's so…_adorable_—with the smallest bit of icing still on Maura's mouth—that Jane can't even help leaning over to kiss the pout away; the faintest taste of frosting mixing with the sweetness left behind from the wine Maura had drank earlier that evening.

It's only when her hand reaches up to tangle in loose, blonde curls that she reluctantly pulls back. Maura had wanted to build one of these forever, the least Jane could do was quit distracting them both and help her finish it.

Giving one more quick kiss, Jane pulls back completely and runs her thumb across the very edge of Maura's lip. "I love you."

"I love you back," Maura smiles, utterly and completely happy to be doing something so simple with the person she adores most at her side.

After finally deciding how they were going to do this—one side of the house and one of the gingerbread man was to be decorated by Jane, the others by Maura—they pass the things back and forth without asking, automatically knowing when and what the other wanted.

Almost finished, Maura looks up and narrows her eyes at the slight bulge of Jane's cheek. "Did you eat the last peppermint?"

Like a deer in headlights, Jane looks up with wide eyes and a faux innocent expression. She maneuvers the candy under her tongue as deftly as she can before shaking her head. "What? Of courth not," she lisps, cringing at how badly her impaired speech gives her away.

Pausing only for a moment, Maura starts to laugh and rolls her eyes good-naturedly as she tosses one of the small, round candies towards Jane—it's poorly dodged as it lightly hits Jane in the chest and bounces away.

"That's so mean. I was saving that peppermint."

"Do you want it back?" Jane asks before sticking out her tongue to show the completely white, pocked candy that remains.

"No," she smiles, winking suggestively. "But you owe me for that later."

"Gladly," Jane reaches over and lightly pinches Maura's hip. "But you have to show me your half first."

And Jane regrets asking as soon as the house is turned and she sees what Maura has done.

White frosting hangs off the edges of the roof like perfectly placed icicles; different colored candies lay in specific, well thought-out patterns across the roof. To say Jane is shocked at how neat and perfect the lines of icing are is an understatement. It looks like one that would belong in a magazine, not just sitting out in Maura's kitchen.

Floundering for words, she tosses one hand up and her mouth drops. "What the hell, Picasso! I thought you had never done this before!"

Proudly, Maura grins. It's not every day that Jane Rizzoli was almost made speechless. "One does not need to decorate a gingerbread house to understand the fundamentals of doing so."

Jane waves her hand towards Maura's side of the house again—clearly still in awe. "So this is something else you're just naturally perfect at?"

"I would hardly say perfect," Maura tilts her head, eyebrow rising in scrutiny. "But it _is_ nice, isn't it?"

"Humble, too."

Maura nudges Jane with her elbow as she lightly laughs before moving to turn the tiny house. "What about yours?"

"No," Jane reaches out and lightly clasps Maura's wrist to stop her. "Don't look."

"Why not? If it's in my kitchen, I will eventually see it anyway."

Jane frowns in acquiesce. "But I can't compete with yours."

"Jane…"

Maura gives her that face she can never refuse—with her eyes looking all innocent and her head tilted and her lips pouting ever so slightly. Jane rolls her eyes and lets go of Maura's wrist, barely succeeding in hiding her smile. "Fine."

Maura finally gets to turn in, and her hand reaches up to hide her grin. The icing was dropped in random patches and the candy was scattered like Jane had just dumped it from her hand, not caring where it landed. It was messy, sporadic, carefree, and just so…_Jane._

"Oh, Jane…"

Jane groans. "Don't make fun of it. I've never been very good at this."

"No, no." Maura reaches out and takes Jane's hand in her own, squeezing lightly. "It's perfect."

Jane's eyebrows immediately shoot up. She was not expecting Maura to say _that._

"Well if you think that's perfect, wait until you see my gingerbread lady," Jane says with a wag of her eyebrows, pulling the little cut-out cookie into view.

It has white-icing hair sloppily drawn on, a smile, and…breasts. Big ones.

Maura tries not to laugh and Jane does—right as she sticks it in the very front of the house. "It's you, so you deserve to be at the front, y'know?"

"That's _me_?" Maura gasps, looking from her chest to the cookie.

Then she pulls out the gingerbread man she had decorated—complete with curly hair and a blue piece of candy for a badge—with no breasts. She sticks it by Jane's and laughs. "Well this is you, so it's just as well that I drew none on it."

It's Jane's turn to gasp in shock. "_Maura._ I am _not_ that flat-chested!"

"I know," Maura reassures, smiling as she wraps her arms around Jane's waist. "My mind just wasn't in the ditch."

"The _gutter_, Maura."

"You know what I meant." Maura leans up on her toes, kissing Jane before pulling a back to look in her eyes. "Thank you for doing this with me. I've nev—it was perfect. Thank you."

"Anything for you," Jane leans down, kissing her soundly once more before taking Maura's hand and pulling her towards the bedroom. "Now c'mon. I think I owe you something before everyone gets here."

And Maura quickly follows.

…..

**Reviews are appreciated if you have the time. Thanks for reading, as always!**


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